France-based Carrefour was moving 'ever closer' to being broken up, Reuters reported, as shares at the retailer hit 16-year lows and shareholder Blue Capital tightened its grip on the business.
This year, shares in the company have fallen by around 40 per cent, reaching €18.25 last week, their lowest level since 1995.
Changes in the management last week hinted that Blue Capital could be preparing to sell or spin off Carrefour's fast-growing emerging market businesses.
The retailer has hired Pierre-Jean Sivignon from Dutch electronics group Philips to replace Pierre Bouchut as finance chief, while Bouchut, believed to be close to Blue Capital, has taken on emerging market operations in place of Thierry Garnier.
'It's a great role,' Bank of America-Merrill Lynch analyst John Kershaw told Reuters, 'but with the key activist shareholder Blue Capital under increased pressure to recoup equity losses, and after the failed merger in Brazil and the spin-off of DIA, the appointment leads us to wonder what plans the company has for growth markets.'
One analyst, on condition of anonymity, commented: 'Thierry Garnier was a retail man, while Bouchut is a financier. If we are in a financial mindset of selling assets and selling part of the group, then Bouchut is the right person.'
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